EUROPE - Goldman Sachs is set to acquire Paternoster through its insurance company Rothesay Life.

Paternoster is the buyout group established by former Prudential UK managing director Mark Wood to help companies wishing to transfer risk using bulk buyouts, buy-ins and longevity swaps.
 
James Mullins, senior liability management specialist at Hymans Robertson, said: "This is a strong statement regarding Goldman Sachs' continued ambitions in the pension scheme risk transfer market.

"It is also a strong indication that the buy-in, buyout and longevity swap market will continue to receive material growth and focus during 2011 and beyond."
 
Rothesay Life and Paternoster have written £7bn of pension scheme risk transfer deals, represent 25% market share of the total buy-in, buyout and longevity swap deals written since the start of 2006.
 
Roughly £6.5bn of risk transfer deals have been completed in the first nine months of 2010, with another billion likely to be added in the fourth quarter.

A quarter of FTSE 100 companies will have done some form of risk transfer by the end of 2012, Hymans Robertson predicts.
 
Paternoster completed its first pension scheme deal in 2006, and Rothesay Life in 2008.